New study: the best way to get from point clouds to parametric solid models
by Sam Pfeifle
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October 11, 2011
NORMAN, Okla. – Last summer, Dr. Kuang-Hua Chang, Williams
Companies Foundation Presidential Professor at the School of Aerospace and
Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, was given a task by
Tinker Air Force Base, outside of Oklahoma City: figure out the best way to get
a parametric solid model from a point cloud created by a laser scanner.
Tinker is one of the major repair and overhaul locations for
the Air Force and has used Dr. Chang in the past as a consultant on engineering
projects. Recently, reverse engineering has become a major theme. As planes
like the F-14 now enter their third and fourth decades of operation, parts
break, and there often are no modern CAD models for those parts. How do you
make a copy in a hurry?
Enter Dr. Chang.
“They wanted to know what’s in the market and what can they
do to utilize the current technology,” Chang said in an interview with SPAR
Point Group. “They already have several very nice scanners. They have Leica
handheld, with a probe, and then an ATOS 3 - both are top of the line in my
opinion.”
“But they didn’t have the software for when they get those
points to put them together and come up with something that they can use in a
short time frame,” he said. “So they wanted us to find out what their options
were.”
That question, and the study that ensued, goes to the heart
of questions that manufacturing firms and nascent reverse engineering firms are
asking themselves every day. The answers they’re coming to ought to be informed
by Chang’s conclusions, but SPAR investigation suggests the conclusion of
Chang’s study and the conclusions reached by individual companies might be
different, depending on the goals of the organization.
Continued...